Blossoming Branch of an Old, Weathered Plum Tree
17th century
Description
Because it blooms in winter, even before it dons its leaves and while snow and ice still cover the ground, the Chinese flowering plum (Prunus mume) became a symbol of purity and of strength in the face of adversity; as such, it was popular as both a literary and an artistic motif in China, Korea, and Japan. The plum, together with the orchid, the chrysanthemum, and the bamboo (three other botanical subjects imbued with symbolic Confucian meaning and conducive to depiction with a calligraphy brush and ink), came to be known as the "Four Gentlemen." In this delicately rendered painting, the old blossoming plum tree appears almost as if enveloped in mist and shrouded in silvery moonlight. Unlike the rugged, expressive ink plum paintings by Cho Hŭi-ryong (1791-1859), the emphasis in this work is on suggestive description and delicate brushwork-characteristics typical of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Korean paintings of plum blossoms. The wear and slight damage along the right edge of this painting, combined with absence of damage along the left vertical edge, suggest that it was once part of a folding screen. In that context, it is possible that the painting was salvaged from a damaged screen and subsequently mounted as a hanging scroll. One can imagine that the painting originally was one of six or eight panels, each of which represented an old plum tree.
Dimensions
painting proper: H. 54 x W. 42.7 cm (21 1/4 x 16 13/16 in.) mounting, including cord and roller ends: H. 122.5 x W. 61.5 cm (48 1/4 x 24 3/16 in.)
Provenance
[Kang Collection, New York (2001)] sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2001.
Related Artworks
View MoreHanging scroll; ink on paper
17th centuryKoreanHanging scroll; painting: ink on silk; with one 'chŏng'-shaped (Chinese, 'ding'-shaped), red, relief seal reading "Ok San", purportedly of the artist; inscription: ink on paper; with signature of the calligrapher reading "Kim Kwang-guk"; with three seals, one of which reads "Kim Kwang Guk In"
16th-17th centuryKoreanFifth panel from a six-panel folding screen; ink on paper; the painting with signature of the artist reading "Ch'ui-ŭn" ("Drunken Hermit")
17th centuryKoreanAlbum leaf; ink on silk
17th centuryKoreanHanging scroll now mounted on a panel and framed; ink on paper
17th-18th centuryKoreanAlbum leaf; ink on paper; with tripod-vessel-shaped seal of the artist reading "Yul-ch’on"
17th centuryKoreanAlbum leaf; ink on medium gray paper flecked with gold
17th centuryKoreanAlbum leaf; ink and light colors on silk
17th centuryKoreanAlbum leaf; ink and light colors on silk
17th centuryKoreanAlbum leaf; ink on paper
17th centuryKoreanFirst panel from a six-panel folding screen; ink on paper; the painting with signature of the artist reading "Ch'ui-ŭn" ("Drunken Hermit")
17th centuryKoreanAlbum leaf; ink on paper
17th centuryKorean